


Chris: We Started As Friends

by SimplePassion



Series: 1000 Ways to Tell the Stoll Brothers Apart and I Can Name You One [10]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: 3rd person, Anxiety, Camp tradtion, Chris is a softie, Distrust, Friendship, Gen, Pranking, more tags to add
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-22
Updated: 2018-04-22
Packaged: 2019-11-09 05:35:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17995874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SimplePassion/pseuds/SimplePassion
Summary: Camp has a tradition.The first day of April, everybody pranks everybody.(a thousand ways to tell the Stoll Brothers apart and I can name you one. Chris - Pranks)





	Chris: We Started As Friends

# Chris — Prank

Chris (8) - Travis (7) - Connor (6)

— April 1st—

Pre 'The Lightning Thief'

* * *

 

Chris waits patiently inside Cabin 11, peeking out the window occasionally to scan for his two new half-brothers.

There's an itching in the back of his mind. He's forgetting something important but he can't for the life of him remember. Oh well. All that matters right now is pulling this off right.

He drums his fingers on the floor, bounces his legs, tugs on the rope lightly, watches that bug crawl along the floor, listens to twin laughs—

They're coming! He hears them talking.

Chris pushes himself to his feet, scurries to the wall beside the door, readies his hand, and listens closely for that door to open so he can pull the rope.

Their porch groans. The door rattles. And Chris yanks on the —

"Wait."

The door didn't open and Chris barely stops just in time.

_What?_

"I think Chris is in the horse stables," one of the brothers said.

Chris' brows bunch.  _Who told them that?_

"Really?"

"Yeah, I remember Luke saying our cabin has cleaning duty today."

"Okay, let's go."

And the door is closing.

 _They're leaving,_  Chris panics.

What should he do? He can't afford to stay here for however long he needs to stay. Not moving for so long is already starting to get to him. What are the chances the next visitor will be them? What happens if it's Annabeth? She'll spoil it for them for sure. What should he do?

There's no choice. With a heavy heart, he opens his mouth. "I'm right here."

They didn't say anything. Did they already leave?

"Come out then."

"We have Spanish class, remember? Annabeth is getting impatient."

Chris lightly slams his head into the wall.  _That's what I was forgetting._

"I can't," he lied, "I don't feel good. I think I'm getting sick. Can you get me my water bottle?"

For the longest time, Chris is left without an answer. The porch creaks and groans heavily and Chris went to check outside to see if they're still there when a voice, so quiet he thought he imagined it, utters, "You're lying to us."

 _Crap._ Chris drops his lie. "I want to show you two something."

Again there is that moment of silence. Chris peeks over in the window to see them arguing and waving their hand at the door. He tries to read their lips, but he thinks they're speaking in Chinese.

Chris narrows his eyes.  _What's going on?_

But the brothers turn back to face the door and Chris ducks his head away.

"Okay, fine. We'll see what you want."

Chris swears he hears ' _if it hurts him, I'll kill you'_  but he shakes it off as the wind.

The door pushes open and Chris yanks the rope tied to the bucket overhead, watching with glee as it tips over and dumps flowers over them.

They stare unimpressed at him.

"What is this?"

Chris deflates at their lack of enthusiasm. Why does this always happen? Why does nobody appreciate or even acknowledge his pranks? They're fun, aren't they?

"It's a prank."

One of them brushes flowers off the other's head. "A prank is covering someone with flowers?"

Chris shakes his head. "No, a prank is a trick you play on another person for a laugh. It shouldn't hurt them though. That's not a prank."

Chris hesitates. Annabeth's pranks hurt. And so do Luke's. And Castor and Pollux are relentless. Only Lee's pranks don't hurt, but his, by far, are the scariest.

"Sometimes they hurt," he rephrased. Chris didn't miss how one of them tensed. "Have Lee got you yet?"

"Why would he do that?" one asked, unease clear in his voice.

"Today's April's Fools Day. It's our tradition to prank each other at least once, Conn...uh...Trav—"

"I'm Connor," the uneasy one said, pointing to his brother. "That's Travis."

Travis is staring at him wide-eyed, eyes twinkling. "So we get to mess with people and we won't get into trouble?"

"What is Lee going to do?" Connor asks, tugging at his sleeve with bunched brows. "Will it hurt?"

Their door slams open and Luke marches in, very, very smelly and very, very dirty. He stands before them with his hands on his hips and… is… is that poop on his face?

"Chris, what the heck, man! I was waiting for them in the stables for so long! I had to stay in there with the pegasi and their disgusting remains for hours."

Luke snags the brothers by the arms, pulling them out the door. "You two, come with me. I wasted too much time and my health to let this go to waste."

Connor latches onto his hands and, with pleading eyes, asks him to save them. Travis follows Luke with no resistant but his hands snag an air horn off the floor.

Chris shakes Connor's hold on him, ignoring his accusatory glare.

This is their tradition, one that practically honors their dad. He can't butt in whatever Luke is planning.

* * *

Travis turned the prank on Luke.

Annabeth told him first on her way back from the stables and he sees that for himself when Luke is stomping pass the cabins to the washroom.

Chris watches Luke grumbles and whines as he tosses his poop-covered clothes into the washer. By the entrance, he sees the brothers snickering.

One lifts an air horn and honks it.

Luke jumps and glares at the departing, laughing duo. He thrusts the rest of his clothes into the washer and jabs the wash button. "I'm going to get them back," he hisses through gritted teeth.

Chris snickers. "You're the worst at pranking though."

And Luke turns his glower to him, shoving a finger in his face. "I don't want to hear that from the most boringest pranker."

Chris shrugs and looks at the washer. "At least I can pull it off. You forgot the detergent by the way."

His older brother groans and pries the door open, Chris snickering at his counselor's cursing.

Luke gets careless when he's flustered.

* * *

Lee loves jumpscares. Lee also loves his trumpet.

So Chris wasn't really surprised when his afternoon nap was broken by a trumpet solo of Robert W. Smith's Locomotive Chase, twin pair of screams, and a booming laugh.

He rises when he hears the cabin door slams open and the squish, squish of wet shoes. Rubbing the last remnants of sleep away, Chris peers down from his upper bunk.

He falters for a moment. They're drenching wet. From their hair down to their shorts.  _Oh, they must have fallen into the lake._

Before he could say anything, Connor pulls his drawers open more harshly than need be. He snatches pencils and paper out before pushing it back close with just as much aggression. "I'm gonna get Lee back. He's going to pay. He's going to suffer. He's going to—"

"Be pranked!"

"Going to beg for mercy."

"Let's get everyone too! Castor, Pollux, Annabeth, Clarisse, Chris, Luke, Chiron, Clarisse, Luke again."

"Lee is going to regret messing with me."

"Hey, doesn't Lee like to practice in the music room? We can tape an air horn to the door so when he opens it, HOOONNNKKKKK! Oh, and Chris loves strawberries, doesn't he? I know the store has whipped cream. We can mix it with red dye and dot it with white paint. We can sneak some in for breakfast! Oh my gods, I'm so excited. Ican'twaittoprankeveryone. Thisisthebestplaceever!"

Chris swallows and pulls his blanket over him.

Traditions were meant to be broken, right? There's no way he can let them prank him if he knows what's coming. That's not fun or genuine so he should just save himself the—

His bed dips. Someone grasps the end of his blanket. And he vaults off his bed before the cover could be ripped off.

He lands feet first on the ground, face trembling as he looks behind him to see two devils smirking down at him. Connor raises a silver, unlabelled canister.

"You let Lee and Luke prank us," he accuses, "So now we're gonna get our revenge."

His younger brother looks  _furious_. His other younger brother looks gleeful.

And that's not a really good combo to have at all.

Chris gulps and dashes out of the cabin, failing to notice the trip rope at the entrance that snaps, tipping a bucket of water over him.

 


End file.
